Overall, 21,983 attendees were at the NACS Show in 2010, including 1,328 international attendees. The NACS Show featured a 370,000-plus net-square-foot exposition floor with 1,300 exhibiting companies — including 330 companies new to the NACS Show.

Earlier this year, the NACS Show was again named the top trade show in the United States for “buying power” and second overall for buying plans according to the annual report on U.S. trade shows developed by Exhibit Surveys Inc. The report found that 97 percent of NACS Show retailer attendees have the power to recommend or make final purchasing decisions — outpacing the overall retail show average of 85 percent. In addition, 75 percent of NACS Show retailer attendees intend to buy within 12 months, which is significantly higher than the retail show average of 50 percent.

This year’s NACS Show will be the association’s 50^th annual meeting. NACS has held an annual meeting every year since its founding in 1961, but it wasn’t until 1976 that the meeting included an expo, which was held every two or three years. From 1986 on, the annual meeting included an expo, although those early years featured a greatly scaled-down expo every other year until the early 1990s.